Beet-harvester.



G. L. SLADINSKA.

BRET HARVESTER. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 28, 1911.

1,067,884. Patented July 22, 1913.

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C. L. SLADINSKA.

BEET HARVESTER.

\APPLIGATION FILED SEPT. 28, 1911.

Patented July 22, 1913.

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O. L. SLADINSKA.

BERT HARVESTER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 28, 1911.

1,667,884. Patented July 22, 1913.

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COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH COqWNHXNGTON, D. c.

G. L. SLADINSKA.

BEET HARVESTERQ I APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 28, 1911.

1,067,884. Patented July 22, 1913.

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BEET HARVESTER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 28, 1911.

1,067,884. Patented July 22, 1913.

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CHARLES L. SLADINSIKA, 0F FOUNTAIN CITY, WISCONSIN.

BEET--I-IARVESTER.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLEs L. SLADINSKA, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fountain City, in the county of Buffalo, State of IVisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Beet-Harvesters; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to beet harvesters.

An object of the invention is to provide a beet harvester having a tilting carrier for gripping the leaves of the beets uprooted by the plows, novel means being employed for guiding the carrier in its tilting movement, and further novel means being employed for causing the endless gripping blades of the carrier to securely grip the leaves regardless of the density of the foliage.

With the above object in view the invention consists in certain novel details of construction and combination of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, it being understood that various modifications may be made in the minor details of construction within the scope of the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification: Figure 1 is a plan view of the beet harvester. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the beet harvester. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view through the beet harvester. Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 4E4. Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is an enlarged. cross sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 66 Fig. 2 showing arcuate guides for the carrier. Fig. 7 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 77 of Fig. 2. Fig. 8 is a planview of the carrier base plate.

Referring now to the drawings in which like characters of reference designate similar parts, 10 designates an axle the outer ends of which are equipped with ground wheels 11. The wheels are loose on the axle, and to the hub of one of the wheels. a clutch sleeve 12 is fixed, the clutch sleeve having a serrated face which contacts with a similar face of the hub 13 of a loose driving gear 14 carried upon the axle. The axle is arched centrally in the form of an inverted U as shown at 15.

The main frame consists of parallel horizontal floor bars 16 secured to the outer sides Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 28, 1911.

Patented July 22, 1913. Serial No. 651,870.

of the arch, and the rear ends of which are inclined downwardly as shown at 17. The floor bars are connected adjacent to their forward ends by cross beams 18 preferably three in number. L-shaped hangers 19 are loosely mounted at their upper ends on the axle, and to the vertical legs of these hang ers are bolted rearwardly extending angle iron bars 20 the rear ends of which are bolted to the lower ends of the inclined portions 17 of the floor bars. The hangers are thus fixed stationarily to the floor bars. The horizontal legs of the hangers are inclined toward each other near their forward ends as shown at 21, and form attaching means for the vertically movable beam hereinafter described. Upwardly inclined braces 22 loosely engage the axle at their lower ends, and extend forwardly beyond the floor bars, and are connected by a standlin-k 23 to a draft pole 24 the rear end of which is bolted or otherwise secured to the foremost cross beam 18 of the floor bars. Upon this frame just described, the beet digging, carrying and topping mechanisms are supported.

The beet digging mechanism comprises a beam formed of two parallel horizontal bars 25, the rear ends of which are pivotally secured by means of pivot bolts 25 to the inturned free ends 21 of the hangers, and the free ends of which are bent outwardly from each other to form divergentbunching fingers 26 which gather the standing foliage of the beets and bunch the same together prior to uprooting of the beets. A pair of depending bowed picking fingers 27 are secured at their upper ends to the bars 25 near the bights in the bunching fingers as mostclearly shown in Fig. 5, and serve to pick up the foliage lying upon the soil. Plows 33 are arranged in rear of the bunching and picking fingers and serve to uproot the beets.

It will be understood that as the machine is advanced over the field, the bunched foliage of the beets will move along rearwardly between the bars 25 of the plow beam, until they pass out at the rear ends of the bars. Here the foliage is caught and carried to a topping knife by a pivotally hung carrier mechanism which may be rocked downward at its intake end to conform to the pivotal movements of the plow beam.

The carrier mechanism consists substantially of a pair of angular bars 53 which are provided with suitable bearings near their elbows for the reception of the axle 10. To the forward ends of the bars are fixed depending parallel bars 54. To the lower ends of the bars 53 and 54 are secured angle irons 55 upon which is supported a sheet iron base plate 56 of substantially the shape shown in Fig. 8. Upon this plate is supported the beet carrying mechanism, which will be presently described. In order that the frame thus formed may be rocked bodily upon the axle as a pivot, bowed links 56 are fixed to the bars 53 as clearly shownin Fig. 4, and between the upper ends of these links is inserted one end of a draw link 57 which in turn is connected to one leg of a bell crank lever 58 pivoted at its elbow on a shaft 45. The other leg of the bell crank lever is connected by a link 59 to an operating lever 60 which is pivoted to a notched segment 61 and is equipped with a spring latch 62 which engages this notched segment and permits of the rocking frame above described being locked to any desired position. In order to guide the frame in its rocking movements each horizontal leg of the hanger 19 is equipped on its inner face with arcuate guide bars 63 between which works a lug 54 carried by the adjacent angle iron 55 of the frame. This construction is most clearly shown in Fig. 6.

J ournaled in bearings 65 fixed to the upper bars of the rockinq frame, are the ends of a shaft 66, one end of this shaft being equipped with a pinion 67 which meshes with the driving gear 14:. This shaft is equipped with spaced bevel gears 68. Connecting the upper bars of the swinging frame underneath the bevel gears is a cross bar 69 in which are journaled the upper end portions of stand shafts 70, the upper ends of these shafts being equipped with bevel gears 72 which mesh with the bevel gears 68. The shafts are equipped adjacent to their lower ends with pulleys 7 3. It will now be seen that during rotation of the driving gear the stand shafts will be rotated, regardless of the adjusted position of the rocking frame. The stand shafts form drivers for the endless belts which grip the beet foliage and carry the beets rearwardly along the base plate to the topping knife.

Fixed to the base plate 56 at its rear end are a pair of spaoedangle iron brackets 74 which carry threaded pins 75, the latter extending in parallelism with the base plate and belng manually advanced in the brackets through the instrument-ality of crank handles 7 6 fixed to the pins. Each pinremote from its crank handle is equipped with a yoke formed. of independent branches 77,

between which is rotatably mounted a. pulley 7 8, the axle 7 9 of the pulley extending through a 'slot formed in the base plate. It will thus be seen that each pulley is adjustable longitudinally of the base plate.

Over the stand shaft pulleys 73, and pulleys 78 are trained endless belts 81, between which the foliage of the beets is gripped and carried back along the base plate, it being understood that a slot 82 is formed in the base plate from the leading end of the latter to nearly the rear end to permit of the beets depending below the base plate as they are carried rearwardly thereupon. By virtue of one of the pulleys of each endless belt being adjustably mounted on the base plate, the belts may be slackened or tautened to ad just the endless carriers to grip either luxuriant foliage or sparse foliage of beets. Idlers 83 are arranged on the base plate and bear against the inner sides of the belts to normally maintain the belts spaced but a slight distance apart, these idlers being mounted on centrally pivoted levers 84 which are equipped with helical springs 85 for enabling the levers to yield in order to permit very luxuriant foliage being carried by the belts.

For topping the beets, a blade 86 isarranged below the base plate, and is equi ped at its opposite ends with gudgeons 87 w hich work in slots 88 formed in links 89, these links being equipped at their upper ends with stems 90 which extend through orifices in the base plate and are equipped with retaining nuts 91 that bear upon the top face of the base plate and rigidly anchor the links in position. Nuts 92 are threaded upon the gudgeons and bear against the outer faces of the links, and by frictional engagement with the outer faces of the links anchor the topping blade in any adjusted position longitudinally of the links. The cutting edge of the blade is disposed near the rear end of the slot in the base plate and serves to sever thefoliage from the beets while the foliage is still gripped and being carried rearwardly by the endless belts. The beets and foliage discharged from the carriers are gathered u by an upright worm elevator 95 and de ivered into any suitable receptacle.

What is claimed, is

1. In a beet harvester, a main frame, a wheeled axle, a pair of angular barseach pivoted near the elbow on saidaxle, depending bars fixed to the forward ends of said angular bars, a sloping platform fixed to the lower ends of said depending bars and to the rear ends of said angular bars and underlying and extending in front of and in rear of said axle, beetcarrying mechanism on said platform, and means for rocking said angular bars on said axle whereby to change the slope of said platform.

2. In a beet harvester, a main frame, a wheeled axle, a pair of angular bars each pivoted near the elbow on said axle, a. platform suspended from said angular bars, congear connections between said stand shaft 10 and said transverse shaft.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signatnre, in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES L. SLADINSKA.

\Vitnesses HARRY E. Bonn, MYRTLE GnHRLIoH.

fronting endless belt carriers on said platform each including spaced pulleys and a belt trained over said pulleys, a transverse shaft operativel connected to and rotated by said axle, a bar connecting the forward ends of said angular bars below said transverse shaft stand shafts connected to the forward pulleys of said endless carriers and j ournaled in said connecting bar, and miter Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

